The World of Spain Blog

This is how it all begins to go horribly wrong.

For many people, this is the pattern –

1. You see an advert in a newspaper or hear one on the radio about an exhibition in your area, something like “come and find out about your dream home in the sun” or “come along to our free seminar on Spain/Cyprus/Turkey/Cape Verde/ Bulgaria/ USA/ France/ Timbuktu/ the moon” – you get the jist.
2. These will generally be held at a well known venue in your area, a hotel or football ground for example.
3. You have nothing much to do at the weekend, so you get the kids in the car with a can of coke and a packet of crisps and off you go – besides you have a mate or know somebody at work that’s got a place abroad, if they can do it so can you!
4. All the way there, both you and your partner are agreeing on one thing – “we are just going to look, come away with some brochures and have a good think about it”
5. BUT when you get there, the place is buuuzzzzing – flamenco music, glass of sangria, lots of suntanned smiley faces and everywhere you look there are fantastic pictures of apartments, palm trees, beaches and stunning looking villas, and all at fantastic prices. 5 minutes and you’ve got a bit of a glow and you’re jigging up and down pretending to be `Carmen` – you know, the women with the bowl of fruit on her head!
6. And then – you meet your new best friend! Before you know it you’ve been booked on a cheap NO OBLIGATION, NO PRESSURE inspection trip. Well….”you’ve nothing to lose”….you say to the missus….”we’ll have a couple of days in the sun, down a few beers, have a quick look around and come home”
7. hmm, good plan, but you didn’t bank on meeting your new best friends mate in Spain! He’s even more friendly and smiley, just doesn’t like it if I mention the `no` word! I won’t go into the gory details, needless to say – you bought one, yes you really did it……….yes you really………oh no! What did you do?

To be fare, my humorous take on the above sequence of events doesn’t happen all the time, just most of the time!

The point is, that this `convenience option` is ok for some people ie the people that are not really bothered about what they get or where it is so long as it is in the sun, but for most of us this is not the best way to invest tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds, there is a better way.

The acquisition of property, wherever in the WORLD, requires a prudent amount of research. If you were to move house in the UK you would do just that – you would talk to agents, drive around the area, check out transport links, the schools, the amenities and you would do tedious amounts of research on the web to determine prices & whether or not the area is good for you etc.

Being in the same country, you would also have the advantage of media coverage - which could affect your decision & your perception of the area/prices. You would also be able to glean valuable information through all the afore mentioned resources regarding the reputation of the developer.

Most of us would naturally do all of the above and more, and take it for granted, but it is very difficult to do all this very important and necessary research in a foreign country. This is why most people unwittingly go for the easy option – the `convenience method`.

The solution is to do all the research yourself, just as you would do if you were buying a property in the UK.

If this is not possible, then for you own good, seek the help of a true and unbiased locating business like The World of Spain. We have done all of the above, but exclusively in Spain. It would probably take years to do the same again in another country.

The service from a good locating business should be free because they will receive an introduction commission from the vendor/developer.

This method of purchasing property abroad ensures that the client gets a completely unbiased appraisal of what is available based on his/her criteria. Both the convenience method and the locator method aim to present the client with a property in Spain, but this is where the similarity ends. The end results could be worlds apart and both methods could have a dramatic and long lasting, but opposite effect for years after the acquisition.  

Unfortunately there are certain areas of Spain that now suffer as a result of the vast numbers of unwitting people being sold property via the `convenience method`.

These areas have been over developed and over sold, with one area in particular now being stigmatised with the label of having the highest crime rate in Spain – due partly to the fact that there are streets and streets of nothing but part occupied properties, which has resulted in an unwelcoming, artificial environment with no sole.

The problem is that there are still thousands of properties still to be constructed, yet the coaches and mini buses continue to weave there way between the building sites and cranes with the intention of selling even more.

As a result there are hundreds of people trying unsuccessfully to sell and get out of these concrete jungles that are evolving and this is creating a stagnant resale market where, in some cases, many have taken less than what they paid in an attempt to start afresh in a better area or in some cases they have had to throw the towel in and return home.

When you consider that some have parted with there life savings, the consequences of such an outcome are devastating.

Please let us know if you have found yourself in a similar situation. We will offer any help and advice we can. Either click the comment link below or email us.